


We'll Fix It Together

by shnuffeluv



Category: NCIS
Genre: Aftermath of a Case, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Ziva David, Brotherly Love, Competent Tony DiNozzo, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Father-Son Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Inspired by Fanfiction, No Romance, No Smut, One Shot, Papa Bear Jethro Gibbs, Past Rape/Non-con, Physical Abuse, Post-Episode: s08e05 Dead Air, Rape/Non-con Elements, Team as Family, Treason, Wordcount: 5.000-10.000, Ziva David Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 06:02:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15454929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv
Summary: Continuation ofWhen It's Broke (Fix It)by TT40_Angst_Queen. Going to Vance and the fallout that comes from that. This won't make a lick of sense unless you read that first. Fair warning, this is a very dark story. Read the tags and be cautious!





	We'll Fix It Together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TT_Angst_Queen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TT_Angst_Queen/gifts).
  * Inspired by [When it's Broke (Fix It)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13517925) by [TT_Angst_Queen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TT_Angst_Queen/pseuds/TT_Angst_Queen). 



Vance looked through the files on the flash drive one final time, checking and re-checking, hoping against hope that what he had read wasn't true. But the words stayed the same on the page every time he read them. When Cynthia buzzed in over the intercom saying that Gibbs, DiNozzo, and McGee were waiting for him, he told her to let them in, and handle any calls that came in for him until this whole mess was sorted out.

The three walked in, and Vance could instantly see the change in their individual demeanors. Gibbs looked angry. Beyond angry. And haunted by old ghosts he didn't want brought up again. DiNozzo had some of that anger, but more than anything he had the air of someone who was going to stand at the edge of the waves during a tsunami and was going to hold his position even if it killed him. McGee looked exhausted, pure and simple. His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, like he had spent a majority of the previous night crying. For all Vance knew, he might have. As if that wasn't disconcerting enough, McGee was also sporting a slight limp, favoring his left foot. That had decidedly  _not_  been there this past week, or maybe it had and he was just hiding it.

"We have quite the mess here, Gibbs," Vance said, gesturing for the three to sit. To his mild surprise, all three men took him up on the offer.

"It's a cluster," Gibbs agreed.

"Reading DiNozzo's transcripts, listening to the recordings, going over evidence of past cases where Ziva had shown too much aggression, or could have gotten her hands on sensitive information, we have a serious mole problem," Vance said, mouth twisting in displeasure. "And everyone around here is going to try and get out of the way when it hits the fan."

"We can't just sweep this under the rug, Leon," Gibbs growled.

"I'm not going to, Gibbs," Vance said, tilting his chin up. "This is not something that should be hidden, no matter the consequences to the agency, no matter what might happen to me and the other men high on the food chain. Behavior like this is not tolerated in NCIS, and we need the world to know that."

DiNozzo and Gibbs nodded along with him, while McGee just looked like he had seen a ghost, or he might cry again. And when Vance turned to him, he flinched. "Agent McGee, I need to ask you a question," Vance said. "I think you already know what that question is, but we need to clarify it for the record."

McGee swallowed, closed his eyes, and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Ziva," Vance said. "The way she spoke to you on the phone, this was not the first time that she had hurt you, that much is clear. But how  _much_  did she hurt you?"

McGee shook his head, and took a shuddering breath. Gibbs and DiNozzo shared twin looks of concern. Clearly, they either hadn't thought to ask this question, or McGee had yet to answer. "It was...a lot," he admitted. "Knives, fists, feet, she used whatever she could to...to d--to twist my arm."

Vance noticed the change in phrasing, and narrowed his eyes. "I have the feeling you were about to use the word 'dominate,' am I wrong?"

McGee swallowed again, looking up from the floor at Gibbs and DiNozzo. Gibbs was red in the face, DiNozzo was ash white. "N-no sir, you're not wrong," he said. "That's...that's what she liked to call it when...when she'd drag me into bed and wanted to release her frustrations more...sexually."

Gibbs snarled, "She  _what_?!" as DiNozzo let loose a string of curses.

McGee flinched. "She...she made it a game. How long it would take for me to say yes to letting her have her way. And I broke, every time." He scowled, shaking his head. "I should have said no, just once, I should have  _said it_ \--"

"No, Tim, don't say that," DiNozzo said. "If you had said no she could have, and probably would have, killed you."

McGee just shook his head and just repeated, "She made me say yes, I never should have said yes, then maybe they could have made a case--"

"Coercion is not consent, McGee," Gibbs said. "If she forced you to say yes under threat of bodily harm, that's rape."

"But I did it so you guys wouldn't get hurt," McGee said. "It wasn't me she threatened, she threatened you two. I did it not so that I wouldn't get hurt, but so you guys would be safe."

"Tim, we're going to need to know what she said," Vance said gently. "And what she did to you. I know it's hard, but--"

"No, I know. I know," McGee said. "I have it all written down somewhere. I processed what she did through writing. It was the only way I could distance myself, compartmentalize it. Come into work every morning without throwing up at the sight of her."

Everyone was watching McGee carefully, because he was turning an interesting shade of pale green. "Uh, if I could request that no one reads those papers back to me to verify they're right...I'll look over them, and I'll clarify any questions anyone might have, but if I have to hear the words she said to me over again I might...I-I might..."

Vance passed his wastebasket to McGee, who promptly threw up whatever he had for breakfast. "I might do that again," he whispered. "Sorry."

"It's got a trash liner for a reason, Agent McGee, no need to worry about it. Though you might want to keep that close by for the rest of the meeting," Vance said, though not unkindly.

McGee nodded and placed the wastebasket at his feet. "Moving on from that particular topic, please," he said, "What kind of trouble am I in?"

"If I have any say in it, none," Vance said. "You were quite clearly threatened into complying with someone who had repeatedly raped you. That's not on you."

"Okay," McGee said. "I understand if I do get in trouble, though. I did say yes, even though I did try and come clean the same night."

"Coercion is not consent," Gibbs repeated. "No matter the circumstances."

Vance sighed and rubbed his temples. "We still need to figure out what to do with her. Obviously, she will be suspended pending an investigation for turning off the radio, and we have to figure out what information has been siphoned out of this office through her. But there is the matter of her becoming volatile. Which, from what I understand, is more than a hypothetical possibility?" Vance glanced at McGee and McGee nodded. "Well, then. I suppose we should get to work on a protection detail as well."

When not one person in the room protested this, Vance started to truly grasp the severity of this situation. They were well and truly screwed, and they had to make their next steps very carefully. "I'll alert IA to start an investigation on David, and give a heads-up to the FBI and NSA that they should keep a close eye on her at all times. Obviously when word of this gets out, we'll have to explain what's going on to SECNAV, and I'll try and take the brunt of that hit so you three gentlemen don't have to. For what it's worth, I never should have let David back on your team without having her go under at least one psych evaluation."

"She would have lied right through her teeth about it," DiNozzo said. "And I doubt even the best of the best profilers would be able to see her deception. We saw it only because she doubted she would get in any trouble for doing this."

"True," Vance said with a sigh. "Okay. IA. FBI. NSA. Possibly CIA?" he asked.

Gibbs scoffed. "They'd try to recruit her, let's keep them out of this."

Vance nodded. "She'll be going on trial for treason, eventually. And we need to make sure she'll be proven guilty."

"I doubt letting us work that case would be a good idea," DiNozzo said, regret in his tone. "It's more than likely she'll find some lawyer with her daddy's money that will say that because she tried to pull an 'innocent prank' that I have a personal vendetta against her."

"No," Vance agreed. "Gibbs? Any objections?"

Gibbs shook his head. "If we want this to go away and not come back, we need to do it by the book."

"That's probably the first and last time I'll ever hear you say that," Vance said with a somewhat sincere smile despite the circumstances. "McGee, do you have medical records of what David has done to you?"

"Doctor Pitt would probably have kept track of it, yeah," McGee said, scratching the back of his neck and wincing when he lifted his arm.

"You didn't happen to see Ziva last night, did you?" DiNozzo asked.

"She made me go over to her place for a bit," McGee admitted. "She was particularly vicious this time, and..." he cursed and buried his head in his hands. "I never saw a condom. What if I knocked her up?!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Vance warned. "If that happens we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, okay, Tim?"

McGee bit his lip and nodded. "I hate this," he muttered. "This entire thing. I'm glad it's ending soon."

DiNozzo reached over and squeezed McGee's shoulder. "Director, I think it would be a good idea to suspend Ziva as soon as possible. We're going to need to go over our past case files and figure out what she might have gotten out of working those cases, and it would be best if we didn't have to hide it."

Vance nodded. "I'll make the call as soon as we're done here. And of course you don't have to think about this right away, Gibbs, but this leaves a hole in your team that will eventually need to be filled."

Gibbs nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. What do you want us to do right now?"

"Go downstairs, act like everything is fine. We'll get security to escort David away, say there's someone downstairs demanding to see her, or something like that. Get her away from you before we arrest her. Now, about that security detail--"

"Everyone here can stay at my place," Gibbs said. "Two agents, one for the front door and one for the back. Simple enough."

Vance nodded. "Any objections?" he asked.

No one said a word.

"Any other concerns I should know about?" he continued, dreading the idea that there might be more to this.

DiNozzo raised his hand. "Ziva has made dossiers on all of us, and I wouldn't be surprised if she updated them regularly. Anyone who's come in contact with us over the years that she knows could be important to us may be at risk. Gibbs' dad, my dad, McGee's sister," McGee turned green again at that and dry heaved into the wastebasket, "So I say we should if not put a protection detail on them, at least warn them about what's going on, tell them to not engage with strangers, that sort of thing."

Vance nodded. "I'll arrange that. Anything else?"

Each of the men shook their heads in turn.

"Then you're dismissed. I need to make some calls," Vance said, turning to his phone.

* * *

When McGee, Gibbs, and DiNozzo walked back down to the bullpen, McGee thought he might get sick. Ziva was sitting there, pushing her chair side to side and watching them. McGee forced himself to meet her gaze, despite being reminded of last night, of all the previous times that were like last night, her evil smile as she watched him writhe and scream in pain. He forced himself to look at her, despite it all, because if he looked away a second too soon she would know he ratted her out. He sent her a thin smile and she nodded back. When the three reached the bottom of the stairs, DiNozzo grabbed McGee's arm. "You know you don't have to go in there if you don't want to, not yet," he said. "We could have you go down to Abby under the guise of you helping her with cold cases."

McGee shook his head. "No, that would look suspicious. I've been able to hide what she's done to me for a year, I can last another hour."

Gibbs sighed. "I wish I had half the stones you do surrounding this, McGee. I've never seen a man endure torture so quietly before."

McGee forced a laugh. "Well, there's gotta be a first time for everything, right?" he asked.

They walked into the bullpen together, Tony cracking a joke that McGee forced a laugh for and Gibbs cracked a smile over. Ziva leaned back in her chair. "What were you doing in the director's office?" she questioned.

"Some discrepancy over the last case," DiNozzo said. "Something about the recordings skipping. Probably faulty wiring."

That was a smart lie, letting Ziva believe that she had gotten away with everything and that she might have the ability to blame the equipment if anyone asked her about what she had heard in the car. McGee was impressed. "Yeah, they needed me to see if anything had gone wrong in the car, and I said there was some static but nothing big. Gibbs needed to sign off on the whole thing. Nothing to worry about." He sat down in his chair and bit back the wince of pain that came from Ziva whipping him early last night. "Just bureaucrats being bureaucrats."

"I'm glad," Ziva said in that tone of voice McGee recognized as the  _if you do anything to put suspicion on me you'll pay_  voice.

McGee forced the bile back down his throat and logged on his computer, forcing himself to revise his case report. He had done it practically sobbing at two in the morning, so it definitely needed some fine-tuning.

DiNozzo sent him an IM on the system's messenger and McGee clicked on it.  _U ok bro?_

He smiled despite himself. At least he had people who genuinely cared for him. And they knew now. He didn't have to hide it anywhere but work, and soon he wouldn't have to hide it there either. He typed out a quick  _I'll be ok soon_  and returned to work.

When security came up to their floor and talked to Ziva quietly, she laughed. "And who's so important that they want to see me but they can't be brought up here?"

McGee froze. That was something that they hadn't accounted for. Ziva was arrogant, but also always on guard, suspicious. His hands trembled as he forced himself to keep typing. "Ziva, just go," Gibbs ordered.

She turned to him, about to turn on the surrogate daughter charm, but Gibbs just pointed. " _Go_. The sooner you talk to whoever it is, the sooner you'll be back, and the sooner we can get to work."

The promise of the potential for intel was too great for her to take for granted, it seemed, as she nodded and stood, following security to the elevator. When she was gone, McGee let out a sigh. He wasn't so naive as to think that was the last time he was ever going to see Ziva, or have to deal with her in some way or another. Something could always go wrong. But for right now, he didn't have to worry about anything potentially bad happening. He was just able to sit here, and breathe, and make sure that he could handle whenever IA came up to talk to him about this whole incident.

The instant Ziva was gone, DiNozzo wheeled over in his chair to sit next to McGee at his desk. "So," DiNozzo asked. "How are you holding up after that final hour?"

"Well, I'm shaking a bit, but I'm not struggling with flashbacks at this point or anything, so..." McGee shrugged. "Take that as you will."

"Spoken like a true future politician," DiNozzo teased.

McGee rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're proud of me, I get it. It's embarrassing to have you gush about me all the time," he griped.

DiNozzo laughed, before turning serious. "Do you need any painkillers? Should your back be checked out?"

"Nah, I'm fine, Tony," McGee said. "It was just a whip last night, no blood loss or anything, just welts."

"'Just'?" DiNozzo repeated incredulously. "McGoo, how much damage did she do usually?"

"Enough for me to worry about my liver with all the painkillers I took," McGee sighed, propping up his head with one hand.

DiNozzo's eyes hardened. "She's never gonna see the light of day again, I'll make sure of that," he vowed.

"Hey, Tony, woah, that's not necessary," McGee said.

"She beat you, McGee," Gibbs spoke up. "No one's just going to let that go."

McGee sighed. He still didn't see why everyone thought he was that important. Ziva had been tearing him down in secret for years. Even knowing he needed to take her words with a grain of salt, it was difficult being told that you were useless for years and refusing to give in to that belief.

DiNozzo nudged his shoulder. "Hey. I still say we should get you checked out. Maybe bring a cake along to thank Doctor Pitt for keeping you alive this long."

McGee laughed. "I know for a fact that his favorite cake is chocolate. Once I was pretty out of it from blood loss and we had an entire discussion about confections to keep myself conscious."

"Oh, we're definitely getting him a chocolate cake, then. You were almost unconscious from blood loss?!" DiNozzo asked incredulously.

McGee frowned, before realizing that right, not everyone endured torture from their supposed friend and coworker for years, physical and psychological. "Oh. It's that messed up, huh?" McGee asked, wincing. "Sorry for making you worry. I'm fine."

Gibbs stood up and strode over to his desk. "Son, if I hear you say 'sorry' or 'I'm fine' ever again after describing what Ziva did to you, I will headslap you into next week. It's not your fault, and  _it's not okay_."

McGee nodded with a grimace, but felt a little better, if only because he knew his family was there for him now.

* * *

Gibbs read through the files with a growl. He had finally gotten to see McGee's medical history, and was incensed to see sprained joints, bruised ribs, and enough cuts, lashes, and welts to make even the toughest Marine cry in pain. He looked up at Doctor Pitt, who was staring at him grimly. "I'm glad Tim finally came clean," he said. "I've been trying to get him to tell someone since he first arrived in my examination room."

"We didn't give him much of a choice," Gibbs said. "The agent who hurt him is under investigation."

"Good," Dr. Pitt said. "I don't know if you were aware of this, but she raped him. Repeatedly. It seems she got off on the pain she brought him."

"A true sadist, and not in a tame way," Gibbs agreed. "Tim's gonna need therapy on therapy, isn't he?"

"Most likely," Dr. Pitt agreed. "I'm no psychologist but I can see the damage this has done to him."

"And today's injuries?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing serious compared to the last few time's he's been in here, so that's bittersweet news, I'm sure," Dr. Pitt said.

"Thank you, for taking care of him," Gibbs said. "Honestly, this is a nightmare come true for both me and DiNozzo, and to know that he had someone so capable helping him...it makes the both of us feel a little better."

"I could tell the both of you were about ready to hug me when DiNozzo brought in the chocolate cake," Dr. Pitt laughed. "Believe me, I'm just glad I could help Tim. He's gone through some serious torture over the past year."

Gibbs nodded. Dr. Pitt shuffled on his feet. "Gibbs, I know it's not my place, but both DiNozzo and McGee are threatened by this agent if she's on your team..."

"She's suspended, and she's not coming back," Gibbs said. "I know that McGee is going to be fine with a little bit of work. Now it's time to do damage control for Tony, make sure he doesn't blame himself."

"Okay, good," Dr. Pitt sighed in relief. "I know Tony, he's gonna blame himself no matter what, so it's better for everyone if you stop that right now."

Gibbs nodded, leaving the examination room with the folder containing McGee's medical records. "I'll turn these over to IA. You know me; I won't let anyone else see them."

"Not even Tony?" Dr. Pitt asked skeptically, following him out.

"DiNozzo was in the examination room when Tim took off his shirt. He knows the extent of the damage. If he learned about the sprains and bruised bones, I wouldn't put it past him to commit homicide. I'm not letting him see the folder," Gibbs said.

Dr. Pitt nodded. "Thanks for being the messenger man, Gibbs. Take care of your own."

"I will," Gibbs promised, walking out to where McGee and DiNozzo were waiting.

"Time to go home?" DiNozzo asked, sounding too much like a broken, tired child who just wanted the world to make sense again.

"Yeah, we're going back home," Gibbs said, wrapping an arm around DiNozzo's shoulders. "And when we're there, we're going to go over, step-by-step, why this wasn't your fault."

"What? Why?" DiNozzo asked.

"Because you blame yourself, and even I can see that," McGee said. "If it's not my fault, and it's not Gibbs' fault, it's not yours either. Ziva made those choices for herself. No one is to blame here but her."

DiNozzo sighed and shook his head. "I just..." he struggled to find his words as they walked out to the car. "I knew from the second she got here that she was going to be trouble. But I didn't say anything. I should have stuck to my guns, done something that would have gotten her kicked off, I should have--"

"Hey, no more should-have's," Gibbs said, lightly tapping the back of DiNozzo's head. "If you keep thinking about what you  _should have_  done, you'll never get around to what you're  _going to_  do now."

DiNozzo just sighed and shook his head. "It's...it's hard. To not think that any of this is my fault. I instigated her, I teased and poked and prodded until she snapped, and it hurt everyone else in the process. I just...I can't believe that I didn't cause any of this. I can't," he said, voice sounding helpless and lost.

They got into the car and Gibbs put on the radio when it started up. "That's why we're gonna go over it, son. To prove that you didn't do anything wrong. Both to you and to anyone who might ask you about it. You need to be certain none of this was your fault, especially if this goes to trial--which it will."

DiNozzo groaned, and Gibbs winced. "I forgot about the trial for a minute there," DiNozzo said. "And of course the defense is going to try and pin this on us, that we're the reason Ziva went off the reservation. Most of it's probably gonna fall on my head."

"We won't let it," Gibbs said with certainty. "You'd better believe that we're going to be there to back you up the entire way, Tony."

"I'd take all the blame if it meant you got to go free, Tony," McGee said. "After all, as long as you're blaming yourself, we may as well mention that I was enabling her, encouraging her through the years, and allowed her to do whatever she wanted with me to the point where she got drunk on the power."

"None of this is your fault," DiNozzo snapped at McGee.

"The same can be said to you," Gibbs said simply, and that was the end of that.

They drove back to Gibbs' place, where their security detail was just arriving. Gibbs walked up to them quickly and nodded a greeting. "When's the next shift due?" he asked.

"Six AM, sir," one of the agents said. "We'll be here the entire night."

Gibbs nodded. "Thank you," he said, turning and going into his house.

When he walked in, he found DiNozzo and McGee leaning against each other on the couch, both looking half asleep. "Hey," Gibbs said, nudging both of them awake. "Dinner,  _then_  you can sleep."

DiNozzo groaned and Gibbs laughed. When all three of them went to the refrigerator, picking through the leftovers to figure out what each of them wanted, McGee asked, "You  _know_  this isn't your fault, right, Tony?"

"Yeah," DiNozzo sighed. "I almost wish it were, though. If it was something I did, then maybe Ziva wouldn't be in this mess. It's not that I don't want her to pay--I do. And it's not that I like her, either. It's just...she's been a part of the team for so long, it feels weird to have her gone. Almost like a toe fungus."

McGee gagged. "Thanks for that image when we're about to eat, Tony," he groused.

DiNozzo just laughed and all three of them got settled in the living room, eating in companionable silence. The first yawn came soon after DiNozzo finished his dinner. "All right. We should all probably pack it in for the night," Gibbs said.

"Boss, it's only nine thirty," McGee said, almost sulking.

"Yeah, well, we have a big day tomorrow," Gibbs said. "Besides, the both of you look dead on your feet."

DiNozzo laughed. "I don't doubt it. C'mon, McGoo. If you get nightmares you're allowed to sleep with me."

"Thanks, but I don't think I'm that desperate," McGee teased. "I do appreciate the offer, though."

DiNozzo and McGee got up and went up the stairs, but Gibbs hesitated for a moment. He saw the movement of a shadow outside his window, and could have sworn it looked like a person. He shook his head. This whole thing was making his gut churn. It only made sense that he'd be looking for danger in every shadow. Still, he vowed to keep an eye out. He didn't want to leave his kids in danger.

* * *

DiNozzo woke up in the middle of the night after dreaming Ziva had a knife to his throat and was telling him to choose between Gibbs and McGee; whoever he chose would get to live. He looked around his room desperately, to confirm there was no one there, but with all the shadows he couldn't be sure. He turned on the bedside lamp and blinked in the sudden light, but was relieved to find that the shadow that looked like a person in the corner was just his coat. There was shuffling in the hallway and Gibbs leaned in the doorway of the room. "Tony?" he asked, voice coated with sleep. "It's three AM, son. You all right?"

"Just a bad dream," DiNozzo brushed off. "I'll be fine. Not sure if I'm getting back to sleep tonight, though."

"Me neither," Gibbs said. "I woke up to a dog howling down the street ten minutes ago, and I can't just roll over and fall asleep again like I normally would."

DiNozzo hummed his acknowledgement and sat up in bed. "Should we go over files or something, at least?" he asked. "Make ourselves useful while we can't sleep?"

"May as well," Gibbs said. "Leave your bedroom light on, though. Going through old case files can get boring quick, and you may want to retreat back up here."

DiNozzo laughed and the two went downstairs, to find McGee typing on a laptop and sipping coffee. "McGee, I thought you went to bed," Gibbs said.

"I did. Then I heard something outside and here I am," McGee said. "Why are you two up?"

"Bad dream," Tony said. "Bossman heard a dog howl down the street."

"You don't think Ziva got out, did she? I mean, they arrested her, right?" McGee asked.

"She's not the reason we're all up at three AM, McGee," Gibbs assured, though DiNozzo wasn't feeling so sure.

They all sat down on the couch anyway and started talking. Gibbs and McGee were going through the files, Gibbs finding incidents that could be potentially dangerous and McGee marking them on his computer chronologically. DiNozzo tried to focus, but he found that he was so tired and so worried that he couldn't do much of anything. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, and he peered out the window into the front yard. There was a shadowy figure standing there, staring back at him. He blinked, and the figure didn't go away. "Uh, guys?" he asked. "When's the next shift of the guards supposed to happen?"

"Six AM," Gibbs said, not looking up from his file.

"Then we have a problem," DiNozzo said, pushing Gibbs and McGee down below the window. "There's someone outside, standing in the yard."

"Do you think it's Ziva?" McGee asked, his voice trembling.

"I doubt it, the build looks wrong, even with a bullet proof vest," Tony said. "But that doesn't mean one of her contacts couldn't be here."

"What happened to the security detail?" Gibbs hissed angrily.

There was the sound of a gunshot outside and a yelp of pain right by the front door.

"Well, that answers that question," DiNozzo said.

"We're so dead," McGee whispered, looking for all intents and purposes like the scared probie DiNozzo used to know. Apparently, when it came to Ziva, McGee never came out of his shell. "We're gonna die, and it's all because of Ziva."

"We're  _not_  going to die, McGee," Gibbs growled, grabbing his knife from the coffee table. "Stay here," he ordered.

"You're not going out there alone," DiNozzo snapped, grabbing Gibbs' arm. "We're a team, Boss. You're not going out there to die."

"Then what do you suggest?" Gibbs asked.

"We go into the basement, and let whoever's out there come in and we ambush them when they get close," DiNozzo said. "It's easy enough to hide behind a door."

Gibbs thought it over. "Too risky, I don't want either of you getting shot before I can slit this person's neck."

DiNozzo winced. "Well, my service weapon's upstairs, so. We may have a problem."

"You think?" McGee asked incredulously.

The front door swung open and Gibbs stood to his full height. Throwing his knife expertly, it hit their perp in the arm. The man cursed in what DiNozzo barely registered as Hebrew, and all three men jumped to their feet, working together to subdue the man. Gibbs checked on the security detail. "He's alive, barely," he informed them. "DiNozzo, you get your cuffs and make sure this guy isn't going anywhere. McGee, when this guy is no longer a threat call for an ambulance."

They followed the orders quickly and soon enough there was an ambulance for their security detail, a police car for their perp, and a new agent replacing the injured one on duty. The three men looked at each other as everyone left. "Someone did not want us going through those files," DiNozzo said.

Gibbs rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It has to be about four AM. There's no way we're getting any sleep before work."

"May as well finish those files, then, right?" McGee asked. "Collect everything we can for the NSA and FBI tomorrow morning. They'll like that we did the brunt of their work for them, if they're anything like most agents."

DiNozzo snorted. "That's true, McJokester. Let's get to work."

They sorted through all the files they had on hand, working until the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. Gibbs went to the kitchen to make breakfast, while McGee took a nap. DiNozzo was left thinking. He had to constantly remind himself that this wasn't his fault. He hoped that one day he would believe that, but he still felt guilt for allowing Ziva on the team, and helping her the way he did for so long, believing that maybe she could become something good. Now NCIS was probably going to go under investigation, treason charges were in the works, his little brother had been raped, and his dad looked more haggard than ever. Some job this had turned out to be.

Oddly enough, though, he wasn't regretting joining NCIS, nor thinking about leaving. This was something that was certainly a lot of work, but he knew he had people on his side this time. They were working to get rid of the mess with him, so he didn't have to run away from it. He had a family here. He groaned as a realization hit him. Palmer, Ducky, and Abby didn't know what had happened yet. Abby might have, if she had gone through the recordings, but Ducky didn't and Palmer most certainly was out of the loop. Someone would have to tell them. And DiNozzo dreaded that job.

McGee was roused by DiNozzo's groan and he mumbled, "T'ny? Everything 'kay?"

"I just realized we have to tell the others what's going on," DiNozzo said. "Don't worry, go back to sleep if you can."

"Like I can sleep after you say that," McGee mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "We c'n figure something out, though. It's not like you have to tell them alone, or at all. Gibbs could handle it too."

"It only feels right that I be there, though," Tony said. "Abby's gonna take this hard, I know she liked Ziva."

McGee hummed. "Well, she did like Ziva, but she did always feel like there was something off about her, so she might not take it as hard as you think."

"Really?" DiNozzo asked. "That's news to me."

"Abby can be really subtle sometimes, you know," McGee said. "Most people underestimate her because of her exaggerated everything, but she says that just makes it easier to snoop. And she's been wondering what the dirt is on Ziva for a while. Probably since she's been back from Somalia."

DiNozzo sighed. "Well that, I suppose, is a relief. They'll believe us, at least. There's still the problem of getting all this taken to court, though, and finding a new team member."

Gibbs walked in with breakfast for the three of them. "We'll get there when we get there, Tony. Let's just take one thing at a time, son."

DiNozzo nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Just remember, Tony: it's not your fault, all right?" McGee asked, his eyes intense with a fire DiNozzo had never seen in them before. "You can't blame yourself for any of this."

DiNozzo nodded again. "I know, Tim. I'm going to keep saying that until I can believe it."

Gibbs smiled and pushed the plate with breakfast foods closer to them. "Eat, both of you. We have a meeting first thing in the morning with an Eleanor Bishop from the NSA, and I have a feeling she'd appreciate it if all of us were actually something resembling awake during the meeting," he said.

"All right, all right, all right," DiNozzo said, grabbing a bagel. "Thanks, Dad. For everything."

Gibbs just smiled and responded, "That's what family's for."

"Hear hear," McGee said, grabbing some breakfast for himself.

DiNozzo smiled. He knew that on his own, he could only do so much. But he wasn't on his own anymore, he had his family. And that was the most important thing to him in the entire world.

* * *

Bishop had no words for the nerves she was feeling when she sat in that conference room filled with the Director of NCIS, the legendary Leroy Jethro Gibbs, and his two agents, DiNozzo and McGee. The NSA had sent her because they believed she would get the work done the fastest, but she was so nervous over this she worried that she might not be able to work at all. She took a breath and said, "Why don't we start at the beginning, then? When did Agent David join NCIS?"

"Two-thousand and five," DiNozzo said, passing a computer McGee had been holding to her. "We've recorded every instance we could find of potentially dangerous situations where Ziva could have picked up information or where she used excessive force or not-strictly-legal methods of gathering intel. This should cut your work load down some."

"Wow, thank you," Bishop said, skimming over the work. It appeared to be expertly done, and she doubted she would have gotten more information had she not been trained as an analyst. But, because she had been... "I'd like to see your records for myself all the same, just in case you missed something. It's always good to double-check your information," she said.

Gibbs tilted his chin up as he looked her over. "It is," he agreed.

DiNozzo and McGee shared shocked looks and Bishop resisted the urge to shift in her seat. "Rest assured, Agent Gibbs, the case is in good hands. I'll go over all the data and get it presentable for court. You just make sure that everyone in your team is suitable to testify."

Gibbs hummed, leaning back in his chair, and this time Bishop couldn't help herself. "What is it? Do I have food in my teeth or something?"

"I like you," Gibbs said, and DiNozzo practically choked on nothing. Vance arched his eyebrows in surprise.

Bishop blinked once, twice. "You...like me?"

Gibbs nodded. "What's your name, again?"

"Eleanor. Bishop," Bishop said, thankful she didn't stumble over her words or start rambling.

"Think you'd mind working in this building in the mean time? In case you need anything cleared up," Gibbs asked.

"That's fine," Bishop said. "You have a vending machine around?"

Gibbs nodded silently. "I'll show you where it is whenever you're done with what you need from this meeting."

"Okay," Bishop agreed. She felt vaguely like she had gone through a good job interview without even realizing that's what she came in for. "I'm going to need medical records, and the...well...the evidence of the rape."

McGee passed over a nondescript folder like the ones you could find at a dollar store. "Everything I could find is there," he said. "I'm glad now I didn't shred it..."

Bishop nodded. "That  _is_  good, it gives us a stronger case," she agreed. "The medical files?"

"Contact IA and they should be able to help you," Gibbs said. "Anything else?"

"If I think of something, I'll let you know," Bishop said, standing up. "Now, about that vending machine...?"

Gibbs led her out and directed her towards it, before saying, "If you need a place to hole up here, we have an open desk in the bullpen."

Bishop watched him leave before she shook her head. Gibbs was not nearly half as bad as the stories made him out to be. He even seemed to be...considerate towards her, not that anyone would believe that, not even her boyfriend Jake. She chose her snacks and balanced everything in her arms as she walked in the direction Gibbs left in. On her way to wherever the bullpen was, she ran into DiNozzo and McGee--almost literally. "Woah!" she exclaimed, as she tried to keep everything she was carrying in her arms actually  _in_  her arms. "Can I...help you guys?"

"Have you looked at any of the files yet?" McGee asked. "For more than just a few seconds?"

"No, not yet," Bishop said. "Why?"

"Gibbs is blaming himself for this, and we both know it but he's denying it, meaning we can't help him," DiNozzo said. "But if a trained analyst can look through all the data and say that it's not his fault..."

"Of course it's not his fault," Bishop said. "Statistically speaking, the chances are amazingly low that a person being manipulated will realize that they're being manipulated in the moment, and within that percentage there's an even lower number of people who actually stand up and say something about it. Even if he knew what was going on and wanted to do something about it, there's then the problem of making a case and proving it, which is difficult to do in any case, let alone with a manipulator who has a wide net of connections."

"Do you think you could tell him that?" McGee asked.

"It's not really my place, but if he asks, I'll tell him," she said.

"Thank you," DiNozzo breathed. "We really need to stop the pity train around here, it's time to stand up and do something."

Bishop laughed. "Yeah, well, rest assured, I don't blame any of you for whatever happened around here. I don't see why anybody would. After all, you were just following orders."

McGee laughed. "In more ways than one, yeah. At least for me."

DiNozzo stared at him. "How can you make jokes about that?!"

"Don't question my coping mechanisms," McGee said simply.

DiNozzo shook his head in that  _my little brother is crazy_  sort of way Bishop recognized from her older brothers. She briefly thought that it must be hard for them, if they operated like a family and one of their own had turned on them. And then the thought entered her head questioning what it would be like to be a part of that sort of family. She forced that thought away for now. Right now, she had to make sure that no one was going to jail except the people who deserved it. She could reapply to NCIS another day if that's what she wound up really wanting.

"I assume the reason you three are all standing around in the hallway is because you're discussing work?" Gibbs asked from behind DiNozzo and McGee.

The two younger men rushed to get back to the bullpen but Bishop and Gibbs stood there a second longer. "You're sure it wasn't anyone's fault here?" he asked.

Bishop nodded. "Without even seeing the files, I'm positive. Statistics don't lie."

Gibbs' lips twitched upward. "If you ever need a new job, once this is over, drop me a line. I'm sure NCIS would be glad to have you."

Bishop stood there, stunned into silence as Gibbs walked back the way he had came. She shook herself out of her stupor and forced herself to follow him, so she could remember how to get to the bullpen. She could consider his job offer later. Right now, she had work to do.

* * *

When Abby had found out what was going on with her favorite NCIS team, she cried. She cried over the fact that her family was hurting, she cried over the fact that Tony had been dangerously close to dying, she cried over the fact that Timmy had been beaten and violated, and she cried over the fact that Gibbs blamed himself for it. She didn't cry a single tear for Ziva. Ever since Ziva had gotten back she was acting hinkier than usual. She wasn't all that surprised that she had gone off the reservation, she was more surprised that she did it in the way that she did, blatantly and without any hesitation.

All in all, she was thankful that Tony had told her what had been going on immediately after their morning meeting with the NSA. And while she wasn't thrilled that the NSA would be watching and/or listening, Bishop seemed to be doing some good for the team. Gibbs came down to her with a Caf-POW! and a smile, a non-guilty smile. When she went up to the bullpen to check on them under the guise of sharing evidence results, Tim and Tony were both laughing and joking with each other in a way which they hadn't been doing for years.

Abby was questioned by all sorts of people in the upcoming days. IA, the FBI, even the NSA all wanted to know her side of the story. She was thankful she hadn't listened to the tape from the recorder in the car before she had been told what had happened. She wouldn't have known what to do and her indecisiveness could have made her look like an accomplice, which she was very much decidedly  _not_.

When the court case came around, she of course went with the team for support, never mind that they were asking her to possibly testify. The support for her team came first and foremost.

Gibbs was composed during his statement and during cross examination, and not once did he hesitate in his answers. Even when the defense tried to make him look like a villain, it was clear that no one was believing them. Gibbs was on the moral high ground here, and everyone knew it.

Tony, likewise, was calm during his testimony. He was agitated during cross, understandably, because he had said from the beginning they were going to try and make him the villain, but the defense was vicious about it, Ziva looking very satisfied every time the defense suggested without so many words that Tony was at fault. But they only got one or two instances to stick, and the rest of the questions Tony could answer comfortably, knowing that he wasn't at fault for this.

Tim, though, was a wreck when they asked for his testimony. She hadn't ever seen him this nervous during a court case, but she had never seen him in court in the first year or two he had been working with them. Judging by Tony's grimace and Gibbs' murderous glare, this was exactly what he was like those first two years. He looked particularly nauseous as he was forced to recall what had happened when he was raped, and he barely made it to cross without throwing up. The second the defense asked if Tim had said yes to the sex, he started hyperventilating and crying. Understandably, the prosecutor objected to that line of questioning, but the judge had to let it continue. As Tim described what had gone on before he said yes to the jury, though, during his testimony, none of them looked swayed at all when he did say that he said yes. After all, they had threatened Tony and Gibbs, the only solid role models he had in his life.

The court case felt like it took forever, but it probably took three hours on the outside. The case they had against Ziva was fairly straightforward and most definitely airtight. The jury didn't take long to come to a decision, and the next day Ziva was declared guilty. Tony looked about ready to whoop when he heard the result. Ziva was going away to a women's correctional facility for the rest of her life. Forty years before she even had the option of parole, there was no way she was going anywhere.

When they left the courtroom, everybody was hugging and laughing, and at least a few tears came out. There would be hearings to come; Vance had to prove that he knew nothing about this, and that his connection to Eli David did nothing to help Ziva out of tight situations. But the biggest threat of the day was gone.

Within a month of that case, Bishop was being transferred to NCIS, to work on the MCRT. Abby adored getting to work with someone who was open and honest and kind, and treated her boys right. Bishop wouldn't even let them bring up Ziva, stopping the guilt spiral in its tracks before it even started.

Vance was eventually cleared from any wrong-doing as well, but he was certainly put on a shorter leash for the time being. Someone was always coming over to make sure that he wasn't doing anything untoward. And one angry call from Eli David severed any ties Vance might have had that would cause him trouble later down the line.

Last Abby heard, Ziva had been having issues in the prison she was sent to, with certain inmates not caring for her calloused attitude. McGee needn't have worried about Ziva getting pregnant with his child, because one solid kick to Ziva's abdomen from one of the inmates ensured her period cycle stayed regular for the time where everyone on the team was holding their breath.

The team had been shaken to its core, but they came out on top eventually. And whenever they worked together to bring down the bad guys, they'd always share a victorious smile and a laugh, which was music to everyone's ears. This was not an easy struggle, but they made it work for them in the end. And all that mattered at the end of the day was that their family was safe.


End file.
